Rookie Weekend Wrap-Up: Lots Of Attention Paid To Special Teams

Because young players often fill out the lower portions of an NFL roster, often their best chance to make an early impact in the NFL is on special teams. With that in mind, the Packers paid particular attention to special teams as they conducted their rookie orientation this past weekend.

Drills: There was an emphasis on special teams drill work. That was done not only to give the coaches ample film with which to evaluate the rookies' special teams skills, but also to introduce some new drills that special teams coordinator Shawn Slocum and assistant Chad Morton are planning to run with the full squad during organized team activities (OTAs), which begin in two weeks.

"Special teams is an emphasis for us," Head Coach Mike McCarthy said. "We need to improve in that area, so we actually looked at a couple drills with the rookies that we're going to do with our whole football team. So it was an opportunity for the coaches to get out there and go through the drill..